Kinetic Alfvén waves turbulence in the Earth's magnetosphere

Abstract

The numerical simulations of the model equation governing the nonlinear dynamics of kinetic Alfvén waves in the intermediate-β plasmas are performed. When the nonlinearity arises due to the ponderomotive force driven density perturbations of kinetic Alfvén waves, the model equation turns out to be a modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation. This has been solved numerically by using appropriate boundary conditions. The coherent, damped magnetic filaments with turbulent spectra have been observed. Our results reveal the interesting change in spectral index because of the damping effect. The steeper power spectra follow ∼k^-3.4 scaling. Using the Fokker-Planck equation with the new velocity space diffusion coefficient, we find the distribution function of energetic electrons in these turbulent structures. These turbulent structures can be responsible for plasma heating in Earth's magnetosphere.